---
layout: post
date: 2023-12-26
title: "Your Website Search Hurts My Feelings"
description: "Searching and displaying results isn't hard, why do so many websites suck at it?"
tags: [web]
---

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img{border: 1px solid black;margin:0 auto 40px;display:block}
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<p>I wouldn't mind this <strong>huge</strong> ad so much if the pancake mix was made with lentil flour...on second thought, that doesn't sound good:</p>

<img src=/assets/forposts/website-catalogs/walmart-1.png alt="walmart search result showing ads instead of results">

<p>And if I complain about not being able to sort by price/quality (or weight), I assume some people will point out that choice adds complexity. But it's hard to understand what value this choice is adding:</p>

<img src=/assets/forposts/website-catalogs/walmart-2.png alt="facet with a single option">

<p>Since we're talking about facets, I'm curious what category those other 632 products fall under:</p>

<img src=/assets/forposts/website-catalogs/walmart-3.png alt="category facets showing 16 total products despite having 648 results">

<p>At costco, a search for "rice" yields this amazing facet:</p>

<img src=/assets/forposts/website-catalogs/costco-1.png alt="Each facet contains all the products">

<p>Surprise, the search returned 25 results (seriously).</p>

<p>I'm particularly intrigued by rice that isn't vegan, lactose free, or gluten free:</p>

<img src=/assets/forposts/website-catalogs/costco-2.png alt="Rice facet showing only 1 vegan option">

<p>The sorting made me check wiki to see how much revenue they have ($242 billion):</p>

<img src=/assets/forposts/website-catalogs/costco-3.png alt="Case-sensitive sorting of brands">

<p>There must be a term in information theory that describes what's going on here:</p>

<img src=/assets/forposts/website-catalogs/redmart-1.png alt="Search for 'alcohol' returns non-alcohol results">

<p>You can't tell, but the 2nd result <em>is also</em> alcohol free (the first 10 results are). For any Singaporean thinking that Alibaba ruined Lazada who ruined Redmart: no.</p>

<p>I don't think anyone would be offended if I said e-commerce in the Philippines has a lot of catching up to do. But this first page search result is something else (yes, they sell a lot of other laundry detergent):</p>

<img src=/assets/forposts/website-catalogs/landers-1.png alt="Search for 'laundry detergent' returns umbrellas">

<p>The inspiration for this post is that nintendo.com lets you filter for <code>2+</code> players, but that includes single system, local wireless and online. So there's no way to get a list of games that supports couch coop. Unless you want to check 1680 games that is:</p>

<img src=/assets/forposts/website-catalogs/nintendo-1.png alt="1680 2+ player games">

<p>Haha, J/K. The search won't return more than 1000 records.</p>

<p>And while we're talking about nintendo.com, if you goto Games > Nintendo Switch Games:</p>

<img src=/assets/forposts/website-catalogs/nintendo-2.png alt="nintendo.com homepage top nav">

<p>You'll get 120 games and only 120 games. Of course the list of switch games isn't under Games > Nintendo Switch Games that would be silly. But, for days I've tried and failed to figure out what these 120 games have in common and why they get this special treatment. I can't sleep.</p>
